Pool ROVer

[derelicte]

what would the red filter do? the picture is a pretty good rendering of what it looks like in our pool (blue gunite finish, blue water, blue toys, etc.).

I haven't tried the hd version, but I might be tempted to order one. Even if I do it will be a month before it shows up.

[thegadgetguy]

I think the red filter would be meant to color correct the image. Red is the wavelength of light absorbed fastest by particles in the water, while blue/green light will go the farthest. That's why photos taken at a distance underwater are all blue/green.

[derelicte]

Thanks!

I did some googling and ask our optics guy at work and he said the same thing. He has some red filter material I'm going to try. I also requested the sample set from apollo. I'll give it a shot!

It looks like the price has gone up on the hd version from $30 to $40. I should have bought one a few months ago when they were $30.

For everything you need to know about the hd keychain camera, look here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthre ... 692&pp=100

[derelicte]

Well, I caved and bought a hd version for $38. It will take about a month to get here, though.

Stay tuned...

[Unorthodox]

Awesome! Im excited to see how the color filter works out with the camera. The nice thing about a camera that small and the swatch set is that you can practically compensate for any environment. I know they also sell filters for brown and green water too in case you feel like cruising your neighborhood lake or pond.

[derelicte]

actually we have thought about sticking in the river and filming some manatees and dolphins.

[derelicte]

I got my hd camera today! It took a lot less time to get here than is usual.

So far it is working pretty well and recording 1280x720 30p videos. I stuck it in the housing and threw it in the pool. It fits perfectly because it is the same case as my sd camera.

I'll stick it on the rov and record some video with it this weekend. I need to make the red filter for it too.

[thegadgetguy]

Cool! Do you guys think digital filtering would work? I know you can filter colors digitally, but I don't know wether or not it would have the same effect as a physical filter. I was just thinking it might be useful, as you could probably tweak the colors to suit the enviroment.

[Unorthodox]

I suppose digital filtering would work as well, just red shifting everything until stuff looks right. If you wanted to do that it might work out to have a reference mark in the frame, like a strip of red tape around the manipulator arm that you can compare to a known shade. Then when you adjust the colors you would shift until the reference mark is more or less the proper shade.

Especially since most of the ROV's are a little monochromatic.

[derelicte]

Also, I haven't used super fancy video editors, but I think it might be difficult to do this to video. a couple of pics, sure. video, lots of work but I don't have any video editing skillz.

I did stick the hd camera on the rov this weekend and got some footage. Hopefully I can get to that uploaded this week. I also learned some lessons about the camera. first, a 1gb microsd card is too small. I have already ordered a 4gb one for it. after researching this, the battery in the version I have will last long enough to just about fill a 4gb card. any extra space on a bigger card is not used. also, you only need a class 6 card. don't waste money on a faster one.

I also though I had got some footage with a red filter on the sd camera, but I forgot to stick the microsd card in it and actually got nothing! oops!